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[attr="class","athread"][player]https://www.mboxdrive.com/AutumnsRise.mp3[/player]
Right on cue, a burst of light revealed the young samurai. “It’s tiiiime for an Ultimeite party!” Determined to get as much mileage out of her username as possible, she waved to the professor and his friend. An unfamiliar face, but then, most people were; her narcissism was the exception to the rule in the game world.

As always, they had about one-point-five seconds to get a word in before she started running her mouth. “This is the dumb egg mission, right? I watched some guy try three times, getting kicked off a bridge halfway there every time. It was hilarious, but I’ll be pissed if that happens to us. So! I propose that we turn the escort mission into an escort mission! Somebody can carry my egg, and if anybody comes near them, then I stab ‘em!” She made a thrusting gesture to demonstrate, although her rapid stabs seemed to involve an imaginary knife, and not the side at her hip. “Sounds simple, right?”

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[attr="class","bthread"] Ruby arrived as fast as she possibly could. She wouldn't admit that she had been silently hoping someone would invite her to do the egg mission with them, but she definitely had. It was such a dangerous one, with the many cliffs and places to fall down. Luckily, with a full party of four, the threat of someone attacking them was pretty low! Who would want to attack a full party? Stepping up, her tiny wings fluttered adorably as she listened to the one warrior speak. Or... rather just Annie! It seemed she had just chosen to make herself!

Ruby grinned ear to ear as she stepped forth. "I can probably carry all the eggs!" She called out, giggling as she twirled her wand and getting a good look around at the party. Another mage, a healer, and a warrior, a decently balanced party. "I can cast Telekinesis! So even if someone falls, or I fall myself, I can just make them float instead and bring them back over!" Ruby beamed once more, happy to show off her skill and be quite useful for once. "But I'm fine with any strategy!"

With that, she sent a quick friend request to Annie Mei . After all, she half expected the warrior to recognize her as well, even if she had changed her appearance. [break][break][break]

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“I sure hope so, I’ve heard the horror stories from other players about this mission having a high ‘mortality rate’,” he breathed out, all flustered again as he was blown a kiss. Unlike the previous time when he was rather bold and cheeky, he chose to send a blushing emoji Florian’s way.



Admittedly he had marked the blushing one as a favorite because how could he even?! Even in-game he got easily flustered around his boyfriend. Before he could answer, another voice joined them.

While it sounded familiar to him, he couldn’t put who owned the voice, but he nodded sagely at the new arrival’s words. And she was a Warrior too. Perfect.

“Yeah, it’s this dumb one… I know someone who’d gotten so close to leaving this kingdom only to get snuck up on and have the egg stolen from them. They were so mad,” he nodded gravely in the newcomer’s direction. “Wonder if they gave up on it…” he mused privately.

As he turned to the NPC that had the eggs, another player came into view—and this time, the voice of their newest companion was someone he knew in person.

Breaking tradition for all of five seconds, he turned to the pink-haired girl and broke character.

“Ruby?!” he breathed out, looking towards the girl, and to the other, before his gaze fell on Florian once more. Turning his attention back to Ruby, he then quickly sent her a friend request, hoping the other would accept it so that he could find her easily.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” he added, sending the party request to the other two that had shown up. “So… full party, less chance of other people jumping us… let’s go?” he offered, turning to face them holding a handful of eggs. “Gee, and they didn’t even bother giving us a cart to transport them in,” he added with a huffy grumble.

Oof.

At least with a full party they didn’t have to worry about getting jumped, right?

Right?

Before they could go on their way, though, he couldn’t help but turn to what he guessed was Ruby’s in-game avatar and said pretty brazenly, “Can… can I have a hug?” before breaking out into a chuckle.



let’s get this show on the road!

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[attr="class","athread"][player]https://www.mboxdrive.com/AutumnsRise.mp3[/player]
It only took a few words for her to recognise Ruby's voice – and for Ultimeite to show her offended emote. “Well, hello to you too, stranger! I didn’t go do all this effort making my character so easy to recognise for you to pretend that you didn’t!” There was a method to her narcissism, of course. A drifter like her had few ways of keeping in touch with those she knew, and therefore no way of knowing how many players were familiar faces at a glance. The solution, as egotistical as it seemed, had done a fairly good job of helping her connect with old friends… Which made it a little irksome when it went unacknowledged, but nothing that she couldn't brush off. As assertive as she'd sounded, a smile was back on her face a moment later, reminding the party that she was just that passionate.

She claimed her egg from the NPC and handed it off to Ruby (once she’d given the hug, of course). It went without saying that the girl wouldn’t hear the end of it if anything went wrong, but if Annie had her way nothing would trouble them. “Onwards!” She turned towards the north, and started walking. Well, goose-stepping. She’d found the perfect walk-cycle for a long trek, and by Arceus, she was going to make the most of it. Her katana rested at her hip, a sheathed but ever-present warning for those who might mean them harm.

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[attr="class","bthread"] Ruby was a bit confused when Annie seemingly acted like she didn't recognize her. Did she not see her friend request? Or did Ruby just not make that very clear? She tilted her head in confusion speaking up. "Well of course I recognize you silly! I figured that was obvious! How could I not?" And yet, Annie's smile on encouraged Ruby to smile once more.

However, it was a certain mage calling out her real name with such a shocked tone that it startled her. And yet, Ruby recognized that voice a mile away. So Alexei was playing the game indeed! Oh, it felt just like a gathering of people she knew! She quickly gave him a soft wave and a genuine smile. Accepting the friend request immediately, she reached over to give him a proper hug. "You know, if you wanted a proper hug you always could have just asked in real life silly! I'm just in Slateport at the moment, that's like what, 2-minute flight?" It was obviously a longer flight than that, but a simple smirk emote easily portrayed that she was teasing him.

Taking her egg and Annie's egg into her arms, Ruby had prepared for this. She wasn't big on crafting, but making a little bag to hold some of her loot in was a nice priority. Sliding them into it, Ruby held the bag close to her chest as she spoke once more. "Well, then what are we waiting for everyone! With a full party, we will be there in absolutely no time at all!" [break][break]

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“Your in-game self looks so cute!” he said in Ruby’s direction, before ruffling her hair. “Didn’t you notice something? I’m not that tall in-game,” he added before sticking his tongue out cheekily.

“I wanted to try something else so here I am,” he continued a few moments later, returning the hug with a bear hug of his own.

Now that they were all properly sorted out, it was time to leave Avia. Squaring his shoulders, he turned to the path and took the lead.

“Good luck to any of them trying to knock us off here,” he said as he took the lead, carrying two eggs—of course he was going to carry Florian’s—Leafae’s—egg so that the Healer could have his hands free just in case things got real shitty if someone fell by accident.

“Arceus I don’t want to know how high up we are,” he mumbled to himself, because holy heck some of those bridges looked really unstable! Some were borderline decrepit. No wonder it was easy shoving people off these things!

“Careful up ahead, rickety bridge,” he called out as they approached one of the well-worn floating walkways.



traversing the rainbow bridges

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